Engine.



W. SCHMIDT.

ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.16, 191-1.

Patented Apr. 7, 191 1 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

-W. SCHMIDT.

ENGINE. APPLIUAIION FILED DEG.16, 1911.

Patented. Apr. 7, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WIN/E8858 & M W 8 w 0 mm m WILHELM SCHMIDT, or cAssnL-WILHnLMsHoHn,GERMANY, ASSIGNOR T0 SCI-IMIDTSCI-IE HEISSDAMPF-GESELLSCHAFT M. B. H.,OF CASSEL, GER- MANY, A CORPORATION OF GERMANY.

ENGINE.

1,092,543. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr, '2, 1914Application filed December 16, 1911. Serial No. 666,276.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILHEL ScHMIDT, a subject of the King of Prussia,Emperor of Germany, and resident of Cassel-Wilhelmshiihe, Germany, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Engines, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to engines driven by steam or other impellingfluid, and especially to such engines when required for high duty.

More particularly, my'invention relates to engines as those specified ofthe reciprocating type when required to operate with a high rate ofrevolution of the driving shaft 2'. 6., a high piston velocity. By highpiston velocity I mean a velocity as great as ten meters per second. IMy invention also relates to a compound engine of the characterspecified comprising a high pressure part of the character justspecified and a low pressure part comprising a turbine, the twoparts-being arranged to directly operate one and the same shaft.

The object of my invention is to produce an engine offthe character setforth where by certain gains in efficiency, durability, economy ofmanufacture, simplicity of operation, space required for installationand other advantages to be later set forth shall be realized.

The character of my invention will be better understood with referenceto the draw-- ing accompanying which is hereby made a part of thespecification and in which- Figure 1 represents a plan view partly insection of a preferred form of compound steam engine; embodying myinvention Fig. 2 represents a vertical transverse section along the line22 of Fig.1; Fig. 3' rep resents a detail considerably enlarged of thegoverning'valve at the end of each steam cylinder; and Fig. 4 representsdiagrammatically a modification of the reciprocating engine part of myinvention.

Referring to the drawings, a main frame a has mounted upon it at one enda reciprocating engine and at the other end a turbine of any convenientconstruction. In suitablyarranged bearings bis mounted a rotating shaft0 common to both the engine and the turbine 12?.

The reciprocating engine comprises eight independent and identicalsimple reciprocating engines lying in the same plane, and in the planeof the shaft, four upon one side of the shaft and four upon the otherside, each set of cylinders being uniformly spaced apart. and inalinement respectively with the cylinders at the other side. The shaft 0is provided with four cranks corresponding with the four pair ofoppositely-arranged cylinders, these cranks all being arranged in theplane of the shaft with the two center cranks on one side of the shaftand the two extreme cranks at the other side of the shaft. The,connecting rods 9 belonging to the pistons f of opposite cylinders aretherefore applied to the same crank. The ends of these piston rods donot completely encircle the crank but are formed as circular seg mentsof substantially less than 180 and abutted against said cranks. Sincethe steam pressure is only active on the outward stroke of the pistonand a very high compression is preferably chosen, this practice sutficesto keep the ends of the connecting rod in constant contact with thecranks since the engine operates at such high speed that the connectingrods' have no opportunity to fall away from the cranks. To keep theconnecting rods in place, however, when the engine is dead, or runningwith steam cut 01f, rings is which encircle both the connecting rodsegments and the crank are provided.

Owing to the inertia of reciprocating parts a reciprocating engine is.inherently, as ordinarily constructed, a slow speed engine. My improvedreciprocating engine as here disclosed however permits the use of suchrelatively smallv cylinders,'pistons, connecting rods and other partsthat an engine of large power may be constructed to run at high speed.In the attainment of this high speed the fact that, asis evident. themovmg parts are almost perfectly balanced against one another while thepressures are also balanced against one another, is very important. Thecrank shaft is also, it will. be noted. balanced end for end.

To reduce vibration to a minimum I prefer to use on the reciprocatingpart. of my improved engine an automatic governor.

The one shown in the drawings is one of the type shown by my GermanPatent No. 76,651 of Sept. 4, 189% and the operation of said valve isexplained in said patent.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4 the reciprocating engine comprisestwo sets of eight. engines arranged in two planes at right angles to oneanother each set being arranged as shown in Figs. 1 to 3 and abovedescribed and a shaft as shown in such figures being common to bothsets.

It is to be understood that I do not restrict my invention to the abovedescribed reciprocating engine since in many cases the balancing ofpressures may be dispensedwith. It is only essential that a largepowered reciprocating engine should be made up of a plurality of smallindependent and .identical engines arranged in the manner shown and withtheir reciprocating and r0- tating masses balanced.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. A steam engine comprising, incombination, a shaft, and a plurality of identical single acting engineshaving their cylinders and said shaft in a common plane and disposed ingroups of eight with four on one side and four on the other side ofthe'shaft, the shaft being provided with cranks also in one plane thecranks corresponding to the four outside engines being opposite to thosecorresponding to the four central engines,

and both cylinders and cranks being symmetrical as to a planeperpendicular to the shaft and midway as to the central engines.

'2. A steam engine comprising in combination, a shaft and a plurality ofidentical single acting engines arranged in two groups having theircylinders at right angles to one another each group having its cylindersin a plane. common to said shaft and disposed in sub-groups of eightwith four on one sideand four on the other side of the shaft, the shaftbeing provided with cranks corre-' sponding to the two engine groups,the cranks all being in a single plane, the cranks corresponding to thefour outside engines being opposite to those corresponding to the fourcentral engines, and both cylinders and cranks being symmetrical as to aplane perthermore, being abutted against but not attached to the cranks,and both cylinders and cranks being symmetrical as to-a planeperpendicular to the shaft and midway as to the central engines.

{L A compound steam engine comprising aturbine for low pressure elementand a reciprocating engine for a high pressure element the two elementsbeing provided with a common shaft and the high pressureelk mentcomprising, further, a plurality of identical. single acting engineshaving their cylinders and said shaft in a common plane and disposed ingroups of eight with four on one side and four on the other side of theshaft, the shaft being provided with cranks also in one plane the crankscorresponding to the four. outside engines being opposite to thosecorresponding to the four central engines, and both cylinders and cranksbeing symmetrical as to a plane perpendicular to the shaft and midway asto the central engines.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set I 'my handin the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

, WILHELM SCHMIDT.

Witnesses:

EGMQNT Donr'rnonr, CARL MOLL.

